Speaker Gender Representation at the North American Neuromodulation Society Annual Meeting (2017–2021): Have We Made Progress in Closing the Gender Gap?

Abstract

Ryan S D’Souza,1 Julie G Pilitsis,2 Brendan J Langford,1 Vwaire Orhurhu,3 Nasir Hussain,4,5 Chelsey M Hoffmann,1 Magdalena Anitescu,6 Stephanie Vanterpool,7 Rushna Ali,8 Kiran Patel,9 Susan M Moeschler1 1Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic Hospital, Rochester, MN, USA; 2Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA; 3Department of Pain Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; 4Department of Anesthesiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA; 5Department of Anesthesiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA; 6Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; 7Department of Anesthesiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA; 8Division of Neurosurgery, Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids, MI, USA; 9Department of Anesthesiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York City, NY, USACorrespondence: Ryan S D’Souza, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA, Email [email protected]: Speaker gender representation at medical conferences is a significant site of gender disparity. Our primary objective was to quantify the proportion of female speakers and compare plenary session opportunities by gender at the North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS) Annual Conference.Methods: Data from the 2017– 2021 NANS Annual Conference presentations were abstracted. Primary outcomes included gender composition of speaker slots, gender composition of individual speakers, and comparison of plenary speaker slots by gender. Secondary outcomes included comparisons of session size, age, professional degree, and number of presentations per speaker based on gender.Results: Gender composition of annual speaker slots was (% slots presented by women): 2017:14.6%; 2018:20.5%; 2019:23.5%; 2020:21.0%; 2021:41.4%. Annual gender composition of individual speakers was (% women): 2017:18.7%; 2018:20.6%; 2019:24.6%; 2020:24.9%; 2021:33.8%. Of all speaker slots, the percentage of plenary slots did not differ based on gender, with 11.4% presented by female speakers versus 11.2% presented by male speakers (OR 1.0, 95% CI 0.7– 1.5, P=0.893). Compared to male speaker slots, there was an association of lower age (43.9± 5.6 vs 50.8± 8.9, P< 0.001), lower odds of holding a single doctorate degree (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.2– 0.5, P< 0.001), and lower odds of holding a dual MD/PhD or DO/PhD degree (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1– 0.5, P< 0.001) in female speaker slots. Compared to male speakers, there was an association of higher number of presentations per female speaker at the 2021 NANS Annual Meeting (2.48± 1.60 vs 1.79± 1.30, P=0.008).Conclusion: Although the volume of female speaker slots and individual speakers trailed behind their male counterparts, female speaker representation steadily increased at each subsequent annual NANS meeting. We identified no difference in plenary session slots based on gender.Keywords: education, leadership, academic advancement, chronic pain, neuromodulation, gender

Keywords

• education
• leadership
• academic advancement
• chronic pain
• neuromodulation
• gender